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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25152709">sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/and_hera/pseuds/and_hera'>and_hera</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>King Falls AM (Podcast)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Canon Compliant, Character Study, Gen, Musings on Jack Wright, Nail Polish, Sibling Love</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 03:41:29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,716</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25152709</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/and_hera/pseuds/and_hera</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Lily looks at them, the happy couple. Pippa, her best friend, and Shannon, smiling brighter than anyone she has ever seen. She's glad Pippa has someone she loves. She's glad Shannon is wonderful and good. But Lily is the odd one out. Pippa matches her wit and Lily's sure she'll get along with Shannon but they have each other and they will come before Lily, always. She knows this from experience.</p>
<p>or, Lily Wright versus the world.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Emily Potter &amp; Lily Wright, Pippa James &amp; Lily Wright, Sammy Stevens &amp; Lily Wright</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>looks at lily wright so do you listen to girl in red<br/>a lily character study, bc i had to!! i love her so much and she deserves my full attention. also, kfam did her and emily dirty by not letting them have an onscreen friendship besides lily flirting wtf guys!! let them be friends!! so i fixed that<br/>comments and kudos are appreciated! come talk to me @lcvelaces on twitter! title is from autoclave by the mountain goats &lt;3</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The first time Lily heard Jack’s voice on the radio in King Falls, she burst into tears on the spot. </p>
<p>Emily looked at her, eyes wide and full of concern, but she couldn’t speak, couldn’t do anything but try to breathe and listen as closely as she could. </p>
<p>Sammy was in the same boat on the radio, of course, voice breaking and begging Jack to hear him. <em>I’ll be home,</em> Jack said before the line disconnected, and Lily finished the song lyric in her head: <em> if only in my dreams </em>.</p>
<p>Lily wept and she clung to Emily’s arm as Emily called in, and she didn’t remember most of what she said, just that Jack <em> fucking </em> Wright was <em> alive </em>. She knew this before, of course, but she didn’t at the same time, because Lily never believed the horseshit that the other three (well, two, Sammy didn’t buy into it as much as the PDA extraordinaires) did. She believed in the Shadows. She had to! She had seen them!</p>
<p>Seeing is believing, so Lily believed in the Void, but Lily had never seen <em>him</em>, so how could she be sure? Jack Wright was a mystery, an enigma, and she could not be positive that he wasn’t just dead somewhere in California.</p>
<p>And there was his voice, live and alive. He wasn’t dead, he wasn’t gone, he was <em> here </em>. They all were here. They all were in King Falls, Lily and Sammy and Jack, and they all would be on the air, and they would all be a family. Like if Sammy and Jack had never left and like if Jack hadn’t left again. </p>
<p>Lily lost her brother twice, once his choice and once not, and she wasn’t about to lose him again.</p>
<p>So when the Shadows appeared, pouring out of Death by Damnation, Lily wasn’t about to go to some shitty secret place and wait for the boys to catch up. They went to the station, so Lily could get her brothers back. Emily was strange and suddenly knew things that she shouldn’t, but they were going to the station.</p>
<p>Lily would get her brothers because things felt like they were coming to an end. Lily would get her brothers and she had her new family and she would be okay.</p>
<p>•</p>
<p>
  <em> Dear Lily Wright: </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> My name is Anna! I just recently started listening to Wright On and I think it’s wonderful. Fiction podcasts are more my style, but you’re a phenomenal journalist and I’m a big fan. </em>
</p>
<p><em> I’ve lived in a small town called King Falls all my life, and I really think you would do a great show about us here. Look it up! We have quite the internet reputation, known for our supernatural community and stories, and I would love to hear your take on it. </em> </p>
<p>
  <em> Thanks for brightening my month and I hope you’re doing well! </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Sincerely, </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Anna Simmons </em>
</p>
<p>•</p>
<p>Once, when Lily was eleven and Jack was nine, they went out to play at the neighborhood park.</p>
<p>It was a sunny August afternoon, before the school year started, and the sun was hot on Lily’s shoulders and nose. She was with Jack on the swing set because they were best friends. </p>
<p>She had friends at school, sure, girls she would sleep over with sometimes, but she and Jack were <em> best </em> friends. They fought, and she acted like she hated him sometimes, but she was bigger and stronger than him so she pushed him on the swing to get him started before getting on her own.</p>
<p>And then, some boys from Jack’s school walked up and greeted him with a smile and dragged him away. Jack went with a wave to Lily and started playing whatever game the boys wanted him to play, something like soccer with less rules. </p>
<p>Lily didn’t care, obviously. But she dragged the heels of her ratty tennis shoes in the mulch to stop her swing and stalked off. She made it back to her house just a street over and she took her shoes off and she cried.</p>
<p>When Jack came home an hour later, he asked why she left, why she didn’t come join him and his friends. You were invited, he said. You could have played. She told him to stop sticking his nose in her business and locked her bedroom door.</p>
<p>The next day, they went to the park. Lily pushed Jack in his swing and forgot that he might leave again.</p>
<p>•</p>
<p>Once, when Lily was thirty-one and Jack was twenty-nine, they did their last 1090 AM show together. </p>
<p>It wasn’t a good show. They fought, obviously, even if it was mostly Lily and Sammy with Jack struggling to keep the show alive, but Lily got into it with Jack, too. On a normal day, their show wasn’t about them as much as it was about current topics and events, but that was not how it ended up going. </p>
<p>When the show ended, Sammy stormed out and didn’t come back. It was the first thing he had done that day that Lily wasn’t mad about. Jack stood there and looked at her for a long minute and he asked her why she refused to come.</p>
<p>Lily told him that he wouldn’t make it in that world with his declarations of love on air and study of the paranormal. She told him that Sammy might survive out there with his walls and shields against it all but she told him that Sammy couldn’t protect the world; Sammy would protect himself and only Jack if he could manage it. </p>
<p>Jack told her that he loved her and that he was sorry. Lily told him not to bother.</p>
<p>Then he left, and she shut the door behind him, and she cried.</p>
<p>•</p>
<p>
  <em> Dear Lily, </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> My name is Rhianna and I’m a huge fan! Thanks so much for letting your fans email you. You’re someone I really look up to, and I think you’re so cool and talented. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Your show deals with so much real life, and I was wondering if you would ever dip your toes into the supernatural! I’m really into myths and paranormal activity, and there’s a town in particular I find rather interesting- King Falls. It’s a little mountain town chock full of supernatural happenings, and the people who live there believe it’s a hotspot for the paranormal.  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> I think you would make a great episode about it! Of course, no need to, but I would love to hear your take on things :) </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Thanks so much! </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Rhianna St. James </em>
</p>
<p>•</p>
<p>“Lily,” Pippa says dryly, “please stop flirting with my fiancée.”</p>
<p>Lily winks. “Sorry, Pip,” she replies, “it’s just that Shannon is so wonderful. I can’t help myself! Like, damn, you have good taste.”</p>
<p>Shannon laughs. She is a beautiful woman, blonde hair and green eyes and freckles across her nose. “Thank you, Lily,” she says, “but I’m afraid I’m a one-woman type of gal.”</p>
<p>“Boo,” Lily calls unenthusiastically, and they all laugh. “It’s nice to meet you, Shannon. I’ve been told that you’re actually the one running our social media?”</p>
<p>“Oh, so Pippa confessed, then,” Shannon says lightly, and Pippa rolls her eyes. “She told me, and I quote, ‘Lily can’t find out that I’m not doing my job and she also can’t find out that you’re hot because she’ll either fire me or steal you’ but I guess she took that back.”</p>
<p>“Excuse me!” Lily laughs, holding up her hands. “I’m not in the habit of stealing people’s girls, Pippa! I’m offended!”</p>
<p>“That was said as a joke, Lil,” Pippa replies placatingly, but she’s laughing too. “And I really didn’t want you to be mad that I wasn’t doing the social media! I didn’t know you that well back then and I couldn’t be sure! Back then all I knew was your radio personality, and that is pretty-”</p>
<p>“Bitchy?” Lily finishes.</p>
<p>“I was going to say <em> blunt </em>, but you know what they say about the shoe and how it fits.”</p>
<p>Lily rolls her eyes. “Anyway, I just wanted to say thank you. Our ratings are growing every day, and having such a nice social media has definitely been helping. And since you’re doing it yourself, I would love to have you be a part of the team, Shannon.”</p>
<p>Shannon blinks. “What, really? I’m fine just doing it as a favor! It’s no big deal, my job is flexible and it’s not like it takes much time, and it is technically Pippa’s job-”</p>
<p>Lily waves her off. “You’re doing the work, though! My producer is slacking off, I guess-” she eyes Pippa who sticks her tongue out like a five year old- “but that isn’t to any fault of your own, and you’re doing the work. You deserve to be paid for it.”</p>
<p>Shannon beams, and steps forward and hugs Lily. She’s a wonderful hugger; soft and much taller than Lily. She apologizes when she steps back, but Lily doesn’t mind one bit.</p>
<p>“We’re going to be the hot workplace couple, aren’t we,” Pippa remarks, and Lily laughs. “Come on, Lil, come inside for real. Have a drink.”</p>
<p>Lily looks at them, the happy couple. Pippa, her best friend, and Shannon, smiling brighter than anyone she has ever seen. She's glad Pippa has someone she loves. She's glad Shannon is wonderful and good. But Lily is the odd one out. Pippa matches her wit and Lily's sure she'll get along with Shannon but they have each other and they will come before Lily, always. She knows this from experience.</p>
<p>“Alright,” Lily says lightly, and she follows them inside.</p>
<p>•</p>
<p>Lily has always been a sharp person. She is made of odd angles and piercing eyes. When she was younger, her school uniform skirt barely went down her long legs and she got dress coded more times than she can count, a fact she was proud of. Her limbs were skinny and elbows sharp and mouth loud and well-used.</p>
<p>Lily wasn’t liked in high school but she was respected; Lily wasn’t kind to people in high school but she was good enough to not be hated. She sailed her way through school, all a haze of plaid skirts and collared shirts that were mandatory every day. Lily always hated the skirts. Catholic school wasn't great, but she hated the uniforms the most.</p>
<p>She found ways to work around it, though. Dress code said nothing about socks, so she wore them knee high and brightly colored. Dress code failed to mention nails, so she painted them bright colors.</p>
<p>Lily is made of sharp nails that she chews on without realizing and sharp teeth that snap if you cross her. Lily wears eyeliner and doesn’t smile, especially when asked. Lily is mean nowadays, no matter how neutral she might have been in high school, and she is mean unapologetically.</p>
<p>She tells herself that she is unapologetic, at least, but some nights she lies awake and counts her transgressions and uncalled for anger. Eventually she convinces herself it was called for and rolls over and sleeps, but it takes a while sometimes and she hates that it does. </p>
<p>Lily Wright is a person who has been sharpened to a point and she doesn’t mind this because she is a weapon and she is strong this way. She is pointed and cold and sometimes a little too distanced from kindness but that doesn’t matter because she is phenomenal at her job and doesn’t need anyone else in the world.</p>
<p>•</p>
<p>Ben Arnold is an interesting creature.</p>
<p>At first, Lily didn’t see Jack, and then she saw the way Sammy sat in his chair like he was ready to spring up and protect him, and she did.</p>
<p>Ben Arnold talks a million miles a minute and is always singing some shitty boy band or belting some Broadway song in the shower. Ben Arnold drums his fingers on whatever surface his hands happen to be on, whether it’s the dining table at Rose’s or the dashboard of Sammy’s car. Ben Arnold is constantly in motion, pacing the same three steps back and forth instead of just standing still and cracking his knuckles just to have something to do. Ben Arnold is a boy in the shape of a man, Ben Arnold walks like he wears a crown but doesn't know what to do with it.</p>
<p>Ben isn’t Jack Wright. Of course he isn’t, no one is ever someone else, but Lily saw the way Ben laughed and bantered with Sammy and was a stickler for commercial breaks and she thought, oh, Sammy found himself another one.</p>
<p>She never really thought Sammy loved him like that. Sammy picked his people carefully and precisely and Lily didn’t think he would ever love someone in the way that he loved Jack. But she knew that in the same way she replaced Jack with Pippa he replaced Jack with Ben, and they both were trying to cover it up so the other wouldn’t see it. They both found out anyway.</p>
<p>So when she met them in the studio to talk about the town, she noted Sammy’s tense limbs and Ben’s loose smile, and she noted that Ben was Sammy’s co host and producer, and she said “you remind me of someone.”</p>
<p>Sammy flipped, and Ben was confused, and Lily bared her teeth. Being sharp to someone else meant they wouldn’t be sharp to you. Pippa snapped at her later for being a bitch, as per usual, and Lily pretended she didn’t care, as per usual. She had a drink. Her nails looked sharper than normal, and she reveled in it. </p>
<p>•</p>
<p>
  <em> Dear Lily, </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Hi, I’m Theo and I’m a huge fan of your podcast Wright On! You’re super talented. I wish you were a little nicer to your interns, but it’s still funny to listen to. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> I live in a town called Big Pine, and while I prefer cities to tiny places like where I live, my neighboring town of King Falls is rather interesting. There are strange happenings all the time there, and while some people are skeptical, I think there’s some serious evidence to back some of them up. I think you would enjoy visiting and seeing all the paranormal shit, even if it doesn’t make for a good episode. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Thanks for creating such great content! </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Theodore Tate </em>
</p>
<p>•</p>
<p>Jack left and Lily took a long time to get used to it.</p>
<p>She could live without Sammy. Sammy Stevens was her best friend besides Jack and he was funny and kind and good at talking to people sweetly. Sammy was good at pretending in a way that Lily never was. Sammy loved Jack almost as much as Lily did. Never more though, because Lily loved him the most.</p>
<p>Sammy hid away and was anxious and he had weeks where he could barely leave his and Jack’s shared apartment but he did. Sammy plastered on a smile and Lily only knew he wasn’t himself because she knew him, because they had been friends since they met in college and Lily loved him. Lily would shout her opinions and thoughts to the world, popularity be damned, but Sammy lied through his teeth. She hated him a little, but she loved him.</p>
<p>In the end, though, she could live without Sammy, because despite how much she cared about him, he was always someone with a foot out the door. They both loved Jack and they were both a little bit of a coward, but Lily’s type of cowardice meant she would hide and Sammy’s type of cowardice meant he would run. She never expected him to stay.</p>
<p>Jack, though? Her little brother? Her best friend since ever? Oh, she missed him. </p>
<p>She talked out loud in her apartment because she was used to having him just a room over, reading some new book about ghosts and half-listening as she rambled. She talked and the air didn’t answer, just sent a chill down her spine when the AC kicked on. When Jack should have playfully punched her in the arm as he walked into her kitchen she got goosebumps; when Jack should have teased her from the living room couch with an arm around Sammy and the X Files on the television Lily could almost see the imprint of him in the cushions. </p>
<p>She told herself that she didn’t miss Jack. She didn’t need him, that’s for sure. But needing someone and missing someone are two very different things, no matter how much Lily didn’t want to admit it.</p>
<p>•</p>
<p>“Tell me about him,” Lily says.</p>
<p>Ben blinks. “Who, Sammy?”</p>
<p>“Yes, Sammy,” Lily says, and she rolls her eyes. “Keep up, little man.”</p>
<p>Ben stammers. “You brought this up out of nowhere! How was I supposed to figure out that you meant-”</p>
<p>“Listen,” Lily cuts in, “It’s fine. I just- I want to know what he’s up to, lately. It’s been a long time, and he still isn't talking to me, whether he's in this project or not.”</p>
<p>Ben sighs. Runs his hand through his hair. “Well, you heard the broadcast on the first, right?”</p>
<p>“Yes. I heard him try to throw himself into some cave in the woods. I got that much.” Lily takes a sip of her coffee, which is just as good as all the other times she’s come to Rose’s with Ben. “Was he like that the whole time? Depressed?”</p>
<p>“Not at all,” Ben says. “He was- well. He was my rock for a long time. The first year was fine. Sammy was fine. He punched the mayor in the face-”</p>
<p>“Damn. He finally grew a pair.”</p>
<p>“And he never really believed in any of the supernatural shit that happened, even if it was right in front of his face-”</p>
<p>“Sounds about right.”</p>
<p>“And then, on our one year anniversary, Emily was taken by the rainbow lights on the air. Just like Tim was. But the thing is, Emily was coming up to the station to bring us a cake and to wish us a happy anniversary. It was- it was our fault. My fault.” Ben knots and unknots the strings of his hoodie while he talks, and his foot is bouncing up and down on the tiled floor.</p>
<p>Lily says, “oh.” </p>
<p>“I- I wasn’t doing very well for a long time,” Ben confesses. “But what I still can’t understand is how Sammy did it.”</p>
<p>“What did he do?” Lily asks.</p>
<p>Ben drinks his coffee. “He kept me going, pretty much. He ran the show when I couldn’t. He talked on the air by himself every night for a few weeks. When I finally got my shit together, he supported me, even when I was a royal ass and didn’t trust him. All while dealing with-” he pauses, meets Lily’s eyes- “while dealing with Jack. He never let it show.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, well, he’s good at that,” says Lily. </p>
<p>“And then we got Emily back, and I was still a mess, and then Grisham played that tape with clips from Shotgun Saturday Nights-”</p>
<p>“Oh my God, no way,” Lily says, and she’s almost grinning. “How bad was it. Sammy was <em> such </em>an asshole on the radio, what parts did Grisham play?”</p>
<p>Ben sighs. “There was something about ‘no bra Wednesday’.”</p>
<p>Lily laughs out loud. “Fucking incredible. Like, fuck Grisham, but what a power move. Sammy decked him and he retaliated with outing Sammy as a sexist.”</p>
<p>“Lily,” Ben says, “Sammy basically was a private dude who didn’t have the greatest past but was loved by the town until you showed up.”</p>
<p>“What, so you blame me?”</p>
<p>“No! I don’t blame you, of course not. I’m just saying that- for three years, that’s all I knew him as. I knew that he did some shitty things when he was younger and didn’t like talking about them. That he wanted to come do talk radio in a small town for whatever reason.”</p>
<p>“Did you never think to Google him?” Lily asks.</p>
<p>Ben shrugs. “I could have,” he says, “but I figured he was entitled to his privacy. I didn’t want to be that much of a dick. I knew he would tell me stuff eventually. And to be fair, he did tell me bits and pieces every now and then. He just left out-”</p>
<p>“Jack,” Lily finishes, and Ben nods.</p>
<p>Ben Arnold is a good man.</p>
<p>“Will you tell me about him?” Ben asks.</p>
<p>“Wh- Jack?”</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Ben says. “You said I reminded you of him.”</p>
<p>Lily closes her eyes so she doesn’t have to look at him. “Yeah.”</p>
<p>“You don’t have to,” Ben says quickly, “but-”</p>
<p>“Jack was our producer and co host back when we did 1090,” Lily says. “He loved the supernatural. He loved Sammy. He had a very specific schedule planned out every night, and he made sure we adhered to it. He was smart, and he was good at his job. He was my best friend.”</p>
<p>Ben says, “oh.”</p>
<p>“You don’t look anything like him,” Lily says, “and Sammy doesn’t love you the way he loved Jack, but the similarities are there. And Jack is gone now, and there isn’t anything we can do about it.”</p>
<p>Ben says, “but what if there is something we can do about it?”</p>
<p>•</p>
<p>
  <em> Wright On: </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Hi, I’m Julia and I’ve been listening to your podcast for the last few months, and I think it’s very well done. I think your lead woman Lily is very good at her job, even if there are some things that could be a little less dramatic. In all, the show is well made and straightforward with no attempts to confuse the listener, which is appreciated. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> I’m writing this email to both show appreciation and to request something: I know that Lily is a skeptic, but I think a show about the supernatural could be quite interesting. Specifically, an episode about the mountain town King Falls, known for its apparitions and things that go bump in the night. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Thank you for your time and I look forward to this month’s episode. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Julia Arthurs </em>
</p>
<p>•</p>
<p>When Sammy and Jack left her alone, Lily decided she was going to become a producer because she was too much of a bitch to be a radio personality without someone (two someones) to balance her out. </p>
<p>She became a producer, and she was good at it. And one day, she met Pippa James, another producer, and they went out for a drink. There was a massive misunderstanding in which Lily thought Pippa was into her and Pippa, engaged to a woman named Shannon, was just happy to make a new friend. However, the misunderstanding led to an idea.</p>
<p>Pippa thought she had fire, and she said as much. Lily said, if you want fire, I’ll give you fire.</p>
<p>So, when Pippa leaves, it is a very special type of betrayal.</p>
<p>When Sammy and Jack left, it was an aching pain, something she felt coming on and on until finally they left and she was alone. There wasn’t a clean break. Lines were still tangled and Lily still called. </p>
<p>But Pippa? One day she was there and the next she was gone; one day she was trying to teach Lily how to properly flip a pancake and the next Lily woke up surrounded by empty bottles. There was a goodbye, there was a kind farewell, there was a hug and Pippa cried and Pippa asked her to come home with her, said that Lily was always welcome with her and Shannon, and then she was gone, car silently pulling out of the hotel parking lot.</p>
<p>Pippa asked her to come along, begged her to come along, and this time it was okay. This time, Lily knew it was a genuine plea, and she knew that she would be happy going along with Pippa, probably. </p>
<p>But she wouldn’t be able to rest until she found this story. Until she understood why Jack had gone away, permanently this time. Lily could have been happy and slept in Pippa and Shannon’s guest room but she would never have known what happened next in this story and she had to know.</p>
<p>It was that patented Lily Wright fire that ate away at her day by day. She was so sharp already, toughened from the outside, and now her insides were catching flame and hollowing her out. Her nail polish was chipped and her eyes were bloodshot.</p>
<p>Pippa said she had fire, and oh, Lily had fire.</p>
<p>One day she would probably burn herself down.</p>
<p>•</p>
<p>Emily Potter is a beautiful woman, dark skin and round glasses and bright eyes. She is fierce and strong and frankly the most terrifying thing Lily has ever seen, and she does everything with a smile on her face. </p>
<p>Emily is what passes as Lily’s best friend, nowadays. Sammy is her brother again and Ben is on his way, and Emily is her best friend that she loves.</p>
<p>The radio in the station’s basement is on, Sammy and Ben talking to Cynthia again, who is being only mildly homophobic tonight. “You know, normally I think they’re the lucky ones, getting to ramble about nothing while we’re doing all the work,” Emily says, “but with her on the line? I almost feel bad.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, well, they’re big boys, they can take it,” Lily replies. “What does this symbol mean? I recognize it but I can’t remember.”</p>
<p>“That one’s ‘dark’,” Emily says, “and yeah, but Cynthia Higgenbaum is the epitome of a soccer mom. She hates science! She doesn’t believe in vaccines!”</p>
<p>“Then it’ll be her kids who-”</p>
<p>"<em>Lily</em>," Emily says, shooting her a look.</p>
<p>"Am I wrong?"</p>
<p>Emily sighs. “No, I guess not,” she admits. “She also has a crush on Ben, which is hilarious.”</p>
<p>“Call me Cynthia, Ben sweetie,” Cynthia says from the radio right on cue, and Lily turns the volume down. Emily laughs.</p>
<p>“<em> When you open the door to the dark </em> ,” Lily reads from her photocopied version of DBD. “That doesn’t sound ominous at <em> all </em>. I love prophecies. They’re my favorite.”</p>
<p>“Why do they have to call it like, five different names,” Emily asks to no one in particular. “Devil’s Doorstep. The Doorstep. The Gateway. The Door to the Dark. What the fuck.”</p>
<p>Lily shrugs. “Who knows! Maybe the author, whoever the hell that is, wanted to spice things up a bit. They’re all just ominous variations on the same theme.”</p>
<p>“Well, I hate it,” Emily declares. “Just pick one!”</p>
<p>“You <em>are</em> the One. Maybe you can change it.”</p>
<p>Emily rolls her eyes, but she’s smiling. “Yes, my strange and unknown powers get to change this book so it suits my interests. That’s something I can do.”</p>
<p>“I mean, they are unknown powers,” Lily says. “Who knows! Maybe you can.”</p>
<p>“I highly doubt it,” Emily replies, and she closes the book. “We’ve been at it all night. Almost translated the page and that’s without the boys helping."</p>
<p>“Maybe that’s because they don’t actually help even when they’re here,” Lily says under her breath.</p>
<p>“Let’s do something fun.”</p>
<p>“Something fun? We’re trying to save the world, Em.”</p>
<p>Emily pushes her glasses up her nose. “Yeah, I am aware,” she says, “but do you really think we’re going to get much more done tonight?”</p>
<p>Lily gives her a look.</p>
<p>“I’ll paint your nails. The red is almost gone.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, alright, let’s do it.”</p>
<p>Emily grabs nail polish from her backpack (“do you keep nail polish with you?” “Ben always chips his, and I like doing them” “God, you two are gross”) and holds out two bottles. “Pink or yellow?”</p>
<p>Lily raises an eyebrow. “You don’t have anything that isn’t so… bright?”</p>
<p>Emily shakes her head. “Change of pace for you, isn’t it?”</p>
<p>Lily grabs the pink. “I guess.”</p>
<p>Emily takes her time painting Lily’s nails, carefully covering up the remnants of the dark red from last time. </p>
<p>“I never used to paint my nails,” Lily says. </p>
<p>“Oh?”</p>
<p>“Yeah. I was a tomboy. I also bite my nails, so it would chip off.”</p>
<p>“Well, thanks for letting me do them now.”</p>
<p>Lily blinks. “Letting you do them? You’re doing me a favor, Em.”</p>
<p>Emily finishes Lily’s left thumb and moves on to her right hand. “Yeah, well, I like painting nails. It gives me a bit of control. I’m good at them.”</p>
<p>“You have control of things,” says Lily. </p>
<p>Emily shrugs. “I do. But everything is happening all at once, you know? I have to have something to do that I <em> know </em>I can do.”</p>
<p>Lily carefully grabs Emily’s hand, stopping her from painting. “Emily, you can do anything, yeah? You’re the One.”</p>
<p>“And frankly, that terrifies me,” Emily says, finally meeting Lily’s eyes. “I don’t know what to do, I don’t know how to do any of this. DBD doesn’t even mention me because, you know, I shouldn’t fucking <em> exist </em>.”</p>
<p>“Hey. If there is one person in the world who can do what you have to do, it’s you, Em. You’re a badass.”</p>
<p>“What did I even do?” Emily asks, shaking her head. “I set my library on fire. I got an audio recording of a bunch of men in the woods and assisted in capturing a murderer who was released a few months later! Lily, I’m not a hero.”</p>
<p>Lily says, “Emily Potter, you <em> are </em>a hero. You are surviving every day, even if you shouldn’t. You’re strong enough to live. You’re writing your own story. You’re good at painting my nails.”</p>
<p>Emily looks down. “But what if I’m not enough?”</p>
<p>Lily squeezes her hand. “You are.”</p>
<p>“Alright,” Emily says a moment later, “thank you. Sorry to... you know."</p>
<p>"No need to apologize."</p>
<p>"Can I finish doing your nails now? You’ll look funny if you have them all painted except for two.”</p>
<p>“Okay,” Lily replies. “Thank you for doing them.”</p>
<p>“You’re welcome,” Emily says, and she smiles.</p>
<p>•</p>
<p>
  <em> Dear Wright On team, </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Hi!! I’m Audie Summers and I’m a huge fan. I’ve been listening for as long as you’ve been making content! Lily is very fun to listen to (her voice is so nice!) and Pippa is so talented at her job! The various interns are doing their best too, I guess :-) </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> I just wanted to say that a very interesting episode could be done about this small mountain town called King Falls. Of course, your podcast deals more with real life than supernatural, but I think it would be an interesting change of pace! The town has just about everything, from ghosts to zombies to werewolves. I hope you check it out! </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Thanks for being so much fun to listen to! It’s the highlight of my month.  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Audie &lt;3 </em>
</p>
<p>•</p>
<p>The second time Lily heard Jack’s voice on the radio in King Falls, she was running through the door of the recording studio and she saw Sammy crying and Ben with his mouth wide open. And she heard Jack.</p>
<p><em> Can you hear me? </em>she said, and she ran beside Sammy and clung to his shoulder and looked at the board, heard her brother’s voice for the first time in five years, and then she realized that something was not right. Something was very, very not right.</p>
<p>Jack had been gone for so, so long. He was in the Void, in the dark and cold. And it seemed like he had been thoroughly disassembled and then put back together into something that walked like Jack Wright and talked like Jack Wright but was <em> not </em> Jack. He was something else entirely, now. He wasn’t Lily and Sammy’s Jack.</p>
<p><em> We can leave her all over again </em> , Jack said, because Jack knew that Lily hated being left behind. She always had. Lily physically stepped back when he said it, and she knew that she was crying, and she grabbed Sammy’s arm and told him that they had to <em> go </em>, because it looked like she had lost one brother and she wasn’t about to lose the other.</p>
<p>Jack sounded like Jack, the lilt of his voice the same, the way you could hear when he was smiling. Jack sounded like Jack, which is why Lily could barely stand to leave. <em> Baby, please come home, </em>Jack said to Sammy, another Christmas song that wouldn’t have a happy end. </p>
<p>Jack said that the Void was his home, that the darkness was what he wanted, and Lily was terrified because she almost believed him. Jack always wanted something more from life. She knew this wasn’t him, but seeing is believing, so how could she know for sure?</p>
<p>She grabbed Sammy and they left the station, left the shadows pouring from the board and the phones and the hotline. They sat in the back seat of Emily’s car together, and Lily held his hand.</p>
<p>“Was it him?” Sammy asked, so quiet Lily could barely hear him.</p>
<p>“I don’t know,” she said honestly, and closed her eyes.</p>
<p>•</p>
<p>"You know, Jack," Sammy says, pulling on his coat, "sometimes I think you just want to tell the whole listening audience about all of your secrets."</p>
<p>Jack shrugs. "I just want them to know about love, Sam! Jesus. Let me have this."</p>
<p>"You two are sixth grade gross," Lily declares. "I can't believe you confessed your love to Sammy live on the air, Jack. Like, <em>honestly</em>, get a room. Preferably one that doesn't broadcast live on the air."</p>
<p>"Hey, now!" Jack says, throwing his hands up in defense. "It wasn't <em>just </em>for Sammy. It was for you too, Lily. I love you <em>both</em>."</p>
<p>"I certainly hope you don't love us both in the same way," Lily says under her breath, and Sammy rolls his eyes. Jack punches her in the arm, but there's no anger in it. "But sure, fine, I love you too, bro. Thanks for not leaving me out of this love fest or whatever the fuck it is."</p>
<p>"I'll never leave you out, Lil," Jack says.</p>
<p>•</p>
<p>
  <em> hey lil,  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> you heard of this place called king falls? it’s so cool and there’s supernatural stuff everywhere! i’m trying to convince sammy to go with me. maybe you could meet us there! i know you two are pissed at each other, but maybe things would be better if you just talked, you know? they have werewolves and vampires and so much cool shit, so you have to come. bring your podcast! do an episode about it!</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>love you, miss you.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> jack </em>
</p>
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